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I was listening to a sports radio station in Columbus today and they were previewing the NL Central. Of course, they picked the Cubs to run away with the division with the Pirates and Cardinals fighting for 2nd place. Which lead them to then discuss the following:

If you combined the Pirates and Cardinals and created a 25 man roster for an entire season, would they win the NL Central over the Cubs??

They said that the starters would be:

C: Yadier Molina
1B: Josh Bell
2B: Matt Carpenter
3B: Jung Ho Kang
SS: Aledmys Diaz
LF: Starling Marte
CF: Dexter Fowler
RF: Andrew McCutchen

BN: Francisco Cervelli
BN: Stephen Piscotty
BN: Gregory Polanco
BN: Jhonny Peralta
BN: Josh Harrison
BN: David Freese

SP: Carlos Martinez
SP: Gerrit Cole
SP: Jameson Taillon
SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Lance Lynn

RP: Brett Cecil
RP: Kevin Siegrist
RP: Felipe Rivero
RP: Tony Watson
RP: Daniel Hudson
CL: Seung Hwan Oh

So what do you think?? Obviously you could choose a couple different guys for the last bench spots, the back end of the rotation, and the bullpen.

That infield is still worse than the Cubs' infield, but the outfield is stacked. If Wainwright and Cole can bounce back, the starting rotation would be better because it would be deeper.

Here's what ZiPS thinks:

Cubs

Infield(Contreras/Rizzo/Baez/Russell/Bryant): 24 WAR
Outfield(Schwarber/Heyward/Zobrist): 9 WAR
Rotation(Lester/Arrieta/Hendricks/Lackey/Montgomery): 16 WAR
Bullpen: 2 WAR

Total: 51 WAR

Cards/Pirates

Infield(Molina/Carpenter/Wong+Harrison/Diaz/Gyorko): 16 WAR
Outfield(Marte/McCutchen/Polanco): 11 WAR
Rotation(Martinez/Cole/Wainwright/Taillon/Lynn): 12 WAR
Bullpen: 4 WAR

Total: 43 WAR

Transmogrified Tiger wrote:Here's what ZiPS thinks:

Cubs

Infield(Contreras/Rizzo/Baez/Russell/Bryant): 24 WAR
Outfield(Schwarber/Heyward/Zobrist): 9 WAR
Rotation(Lester/Arrieta/Hendricks/Lackey/Montgomery): 16 WAR
Bullpen: 2 WAR

Total: 51 WAR

Cards/Pirates
Infield(Molina/Carpenter/Wong+Harrison/Diaz/Gyorko): 16 WAR
Outfield(Marte/McCutchen/Polanco): 11 WAR
Rotation(Martinez/Cole/Wainwright/Taillon/Lynn): 12 WAR
Bullpen: 4 WAR

Total: 43 WAR

Pretty sure they need to rethink that Kang spot on the combined roster since the last I heard his season is in jeopardy due to work visa issues or something like that.

What if the Pirates and Cards brought in the guys from Impractial Jokers and did an entire episode from the ballparks? Reckon that would loosen things up enough to catch the Cubs? Maybe we get an extra shipment of affliction t's while we're at it

Tim wrote:What if the Pirates and Cards brought in the guys from Impractial Jokers and did an entire episode from the ballparks? Reckon that would loosen things up enough to catch the Cubs? Maybe we get an extra shipment of affliction t's while we're at it

Only if the get Bill Murray to dress up as a mime and entertain the team too....

3B: Jung Ho Kang - caveat: as long as he can play 3rd drunk

I think if you had a full 40 man roster between the clubs vs the Cubs then they are without a doubt better. I'd still probably take the combined 25 man as long as Matheny wasn't managing and mid-season trades were excluded.

cardinalkarp wrote:3B: Jung Ho Kang - caveat: as long as he can play 3rd drunk

And play 3rd from Korea since he still doesn't have a visa.

tlombard wrote:

cardinalkarp wrote:3B: Jung Ho Kang - caveat: as long as he can play 3rd drunk

And play 3rd from Korea since he still doesn't have a visa.

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